Regency Suspension Bridge
Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(near extinct town of Regency, 4.4 mi. S) This area's first Colorado River bridge was built in 1903 between Mills and San Saba counties to serve area ranchers and farmers. The bridge fell into the river on May 9, 1924, killing Raymond Burns Jernigan (b. June 28, 1914), his horse, and several cattle. Its replacement was destroyed in a 1936 flood. Erected in 1939 by 90 percent hand labor, the Regency Suspension Bridge became the pride of the area. Youths gathered there in the 1940s to picnic, dance, and sing. Bypassed by paved roads, it survives as one of the last suspension bridges in Texas. (1976, 1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Slung across the Colorado River near the now-vanished town of Regency, this crossing was born of hard rural necessity: the first area bridge went up in 1903 to link ranchers and farmers across the Mills–San Saba county line. Two spans were lost—one collapsing fatally into the river in 1924, another swept away by a 1936 flood—before the current suspension bridge was raised in 1939, built almost entirely by hand. In the 1940s it became a gathering place where young people came to picnic, dance, and sing, and though paved highways later bypassed it, it endures as one of the last suspension bridges in Texas.
Why it matters
It preserves the vanishing engineering and social world of the rural river crossing, a lifeline that once knit isolated ranch country together before the age of paved highways.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Raymond Burns Jernigan
Related events
- · 1924 bridge collapse
- · 1936 flood
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Regency Suspension Bridge
Goldthwaite, TX
At the near-vanished town of Regency on the Mills–San Saba county line, the area's first Colorado River bridge went up in 1903, only to collapse in 1924, killing a boy and several animals; its replacement fell to a 1936 flood. In 1939, with ninety percent of the work done by hand, the Regency Suspension Bridge was raised, becoming a beloved local gathering place where young people picnicked and danced in the 1940s. Bypassed by paved farm roads, it endures as one of the last suspension bridges in Texas.
Brownwood Harvey House
Brownwood, TX
Built in 1914 beside the Santa Fe depot, the Brownwood Harvey House was one of the celebrated restaurants Fred Harvey established along the railroad to give travelers dependable food and lodging. Popular from opening day, it closed in 1937 but reopened to serve soldiers when Camp Bowie was activated in World War II, shutting for good in 1945 as passenger rail declined. Its red-tile roof and decorative brackets reflect the Spanish Mission Revival style the Santa Fe favored across the Southwest.
Route of Old Military Road
Santa Anna, TX
Opened in the 1850s, this military road carried supply trains and cavalry along the chain of U.S. forts that guarded the Texas frontier, running from Fort Belknap on the Brazos down toward Fort Mason and Fort Clark near the Rio Grande. Notable soldiers traveled its route, among them Col. Robert E. Lee, who a decade later would command Confederate armies. The road knit together the far-flung outposts meant to shield settlers.
Mullins Heritage Park
Thrifty, TX
In 1894 Brown County commissioners cut a public road from Bangs to Cross Cut, and its chief crossing of Jim Ned Creek fell at Mullins Ranch, prompting the county to buy eleven acres here. The Mullins brothers had settled the area in 1857, helping found the nearby towns of Mullin and Thrifty, and their ranch became a regular stop for Methodist circuit preachers, a favored spot for camp meetings, and an open watering hole for cattlemen and neighbors. Many of those gathering traditions continue at the site today.